Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1936. THE SEAMEN'S STRIKE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 79, 15 January 1936, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1936. THE SEAMEN'S STRIKE.

Though the effort to bring about a miners' strike in Australia in support of the seamen has not met with the success the strike leaders hoped for, it has resulted in financial aid being forthcoming and in a promise that the miners will not hew coal intended for ships manned by volunteer crews. The levy on wages is the less important factor, though it may assist the seamen to remain idle a while longer than would otherwise be the case. The decision regarding the hewing of coal, however, carries with it serious possibilities, for, apart altogether from its actual effect of hindering departures, there is always the danger of dispute as to the destination of the output, resulting in stoppages on false grounds with the likelihood they may develop into a general strike. The Federal authorities have already faced the challenge of the seamen successfully. The seamen's strike was the work of the militant body, partly composed of men permanently ashore, whose actions over a series of years resulted in the Seamen's Union being deregistered by the Federal Arbitration Court in 1925. It regained registration in 1929, by which time its funds had been restored to solvency, and about a year ago it decided to press the claim for a new award. Since 1924 there had been a running agreement based on the award that had expired that year. Before the announcement of the new award the militant section, in defiance of the executive, succeeded in Dringing about an inter-State stoppage by job-control methods. Now the award is challenged, for though it grants increases in wages ranging from £1 5s to £3 5s a month, it reduces overtime from 2s 9d to 2s 6d an hour, imposes increased penalties for job-con-trol interference and provides for a medical examination. The union entered upon the strike against the recommendation of its committee of management, and the attitude of workers closely associated with the seamen affords added proof, which the strikers fail to appreciate, that the men's action is not justified. The wharf labourers have declined to cooperate, answering, in effect, that they have jobs of their own to look after. The Railwaymen's Union, according to its representative, has no taste for direct action. The general secretary of the Stewards' Union in Sydney has pungently described Communism in the Seamen's Union as a "vile and damaging growth." No help for an illegal strike need be expected from that quarter. The miners, also, have overwhelmingly decided against a general strike, though, as already pointed out, their latest decision contains signs of menace. A strike of any duration on the coalfields would have even more serious consequences than the shipping trouble which started at the end of November. Apart from the fact that New Zealand has already been affected, it is the fervent hope of most of the people of the Dominion that Australia may be saved the heavy price of further folly. No real issue is at stake. Indeed, it is affirmed that approaching union elections have a bearing upon the defiance of the executive of the Seamen s Union by the militants.